christian heritage

First off, let me apologize for being a blog slacker.  Sweet friend at the gym at 5:30 please keep encouraging me to write.  I appreciate your encouragement as you blow past me on the track:)  Maybe in 2026 I can keep up with you.

I feel the need to blog after something I heard on Christmas Eve in Radford.  My cousin was reading the Christmas story from the bible as we always do and he led us in a family prayer.  My extended family has been doing this long before my 42 years on this planet.  I might not agree with who they vote for, but Jesus is the backbone of this family.  (No family gathering is complete with a little political trash talking which makes family gatherings even more fun:)

So in this prayer my cousin thanked God for our collective Christian heritage and it stopped me dead in my tracks.  As a Mom and a youth leader this golden nugget smacked me in the head.  He was right, I may not always agree with how my Dad votes or his driving, and my mother may have even referenced my large bones on Christmas Eve but through both sides of my extended family I was blessed with a christian heritage. 

As a Mom and youth leader who has spent the last year of my life praying, teaching, leading, and trying everything I know to point my own kids to Christ as I try to do the same with our youth, this phrase of christian heritage really challenged and blessed me.  I have lamednted, whined, cried, and been extremely dramatic with one of my dear friends in 2017 as we have tried to parent our teenage boys.  (Sam and Kyle we know we have good boys and we are thankful but the devil is slick and sneaky and yall can be a wee bit surly).

So all the whining and praying I have done over parenting this precious, know-it-all, and surly teenager in my life has been for nothing.  Just like me, my kids are being blessed with a christian heritage and I have given them the BEST tool I can for their happiness and peace-Jesus.  He is simply enough.  I shared with Kyle last night on our movie date how God has shown up in the darkest times of us because he needs to know the power and mercy of God. 

As parents we make sure our kids have the right school supplies, the right shoes, the right athletic training, the proper piano lessons, and the list goes on and on and on and hits our wallets so very hard.  My goal in 2018 is going to be to focus more intensely on the christian heritage I am providing for my own kids under my roof and for the youth kids that walk into FUMC doors each week.  We need to let these kids know that Jesus is the backbone of our church family and our families.  He is all we need. 

So weary parents who are worried we aren't doing enough or doing it right...... take a deep breath.  If you are woried you are a good parent you probably are a great one.  The best thing we can do for our kids is to provide a heritage for them that involes lots and lots and lots of Jesus.  That also includes firmly embracing our church families and making the events of the church priority.  That also includes loving our neighbor, serving the least and lost, and making sure our kids see us putting Christ on the top of our totem poles.

Thank you cousin Abie for your golden nugget on Christmas Eve.  I am thankful for our Christian heritage and feel challenged to continue this for the blesssings under my roof.